Over the Top Connected TV – The next application play

When did you last attend a ‘Digital Convergence’ conference?    I’ve just got back from one which had the usual mix of internet, mobile and telco delegates and what surprised me most was that there are still people beating the 'bandwidth limits product' mantra.

The one theme I was most surprised to see still capturing a lot of air time is “who’s going to pay for all this bandwidth?”  The topic was connected TVs and the propensity for web video and BBC’s iPlayer et al to realistically transition to the TV in the living room in an acceptable form for the consumer. 

But I just don’t get this.  Less than five years ago I sat in similar conferences and the debate was the propensity for telephony and players like Skype to realistically transition to internet in an acceptable form for the consumer.  The view was that the traffic will bring down the internet and that the quality will be poor, with calls interrupted by constant packet delays, loss or overload.  Yet here we are running business conference calls over Skype because it’s clearer (and of course cheaper) than either a landline or mobile facility.   

I accept that you can’t overcome the laws of physics that may dictate the quality of the last bit of wire into the home, and that that wire just can’t handle the simultaneous streaming of multiple high definition video services, but even this ignores two very important aspects that pay no respect to obstacles; progress and ingenuity.  

Progress.  Whilst we wander around shows and debate at conferences, progress is being made.  Video codecs will continue to advance, ISPs will prioritise traffic to suit applications, complimentary mobile applications will allow advanced programming and more convenience to the consumer which together with analytical preferences and recommendations will predetermine push VoD assets - trickle fed on broadcast and broadband downtime.  In other words, clever people will work around the problem and even whilst they do, bandwidth to the home will increase.

Ingenuity.  Apple’s press announcement in November 2009 showed that in excess of 100,000 applications are now available for the iPhone.  That’s a lot of applications, and the number grows daily.  And here’s a thought - how many of those applications have anything to do with making a mobile phone call? Even after removing barriers imposed by Apple on applications like Google Voice, not a lot I’d suggest.  So the idea that a connected TV market is flawed because a flaky over the top broadband connection might just hold it back is frankly daft.  Even if TV were just used for Video, which it won’t be, ingenuity will win through.  Even if the connected TV attracted a 1% equivalent market for applications, of its connected mobile cousin, it would still be a compelling opportunity to address.  

TV is changing and it too will simply become an application play. For all the early market repurposing, what is BBC’s iPlayer if not a device independent application?  And the TV application market is truly in its infancy - creating new industry and commerce opportunities as it steps out.

Let’s face it, TV is different.  Television is an instant gratification, remote control, intuitively menu driven experience.  It’s more entertainment and less information, more fun and less work, more long-form engagement than short form notifications and more suggested discovery than search.  These are the requirements for a successful TV service.

TV’s difference creates enormous opportunity for new product and service development over and above – and also complimentary to – PC and mobile internet web services.  As an industry we will create extraordinary things on broadband TVs. What an opportunity to combine the serendipity of TV with the choice of the internet – the editorial challenges and possibilities are immense and highly rewarding for those that get it right.